1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus able to provide various convenient input methods to a user by combining a mechanical button input and a touch screen touch input and an operating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch sensing apparatus, such as a touch screen, a touch pad, and the like, is an input device which is attached to a display device to provide an intuitive user input method. Recently, the touch sensing apparatus has been prevalently applied to various electronic apparatuses such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), navigation devices, and the like. In particular, as demand for smartphones has recently increased, the use of a touch screen as a touch sensing apparatus capable of providing various input methods in a limited form factor has increased on a daily basis.
A touch screen applied to mobile devices may be largely categorized as a resistive-type touch screen and a capacitive-type touch screen according to a method of sensing a touch input thereof. With regard thereto, as the capacitive-type touch screen has a relatively long lifespan, and recognition of various input methods and gesture types can be easily implemented therein, the use thereof has increased on a daily basis. In particular, a multi touch interface can be more easily implemented in the capacitive-type touch screen than in the resistive-type touch screen, and therefore, the capacitive-type touch screen has been widely used in devices such as smartphones, and the like.
A smartphone to which a touch screen is applied generally includes an extremely limited number of mechanical buttons. Generally, a smartphone includes a screen locking/unlocking button, a volume control button, a home screen button, and the like, while the majority of other functions are controlled through touch inputs to a touch screen. Therefore, it may be very difficult for a user to select and use specific smartphone functions in a state in which a smartphone is inserted into a pouch, a bag, or the like, or the user does not look at a screen of the smartphone.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method of simultaneously detecting a touch screen input and a mechanical button input to perform an operation corresponding thereto. However, Patent Document 1 does not disclose a method of using a touch screen in a state in which a user is not viewing the touch screen. In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a key button unit and a touch screen unit as components, but does not disclose contents in which specific functions may be executed by combining input signals from the two input units.